Stopping the Marriage Laws
by Prustan
Summary: After reading a couple of Marriage Laws fics, I decided to do one of my own. Warning - Super Harry. Oneshot.


A/N Read a couple of different short fics about the Marriage Laws, and decided to have a go myself. After all, it's not something that Harry would just let happen, without doing everything in his power to stop it.

Stopping the Marriage Laws.

17 year old Auror Trainee Harry Potter sat stock still in his chair at 12 Grimmauld Place as he looked at the piece of parchment in front of him with disbelief, quickly turning into rage.

_Dear Harry,_

_I don't particularly like you, or the influence you have had in leading Miss Granger and my younger brother into danger all those times, but the Ministry is about to submit a new set of laws to the Wizengamot for approval. If passed, these laws will force every Muggle-born witch or wizard to marry a Ministry approved Pureblood. Also, the Muggle-born will be bound to their spouse, becoming their slave – a fate worse then a House Elf. I have enclosed a copy of the relevant sections, and other related documents._

_I happened to see a list of the witches and wizards that this will effect, along with the one who bought them, and it made me sick. They even plan on overturning the Weasley Family's Pureblood status._

_Harry, for the sake of your friends, and for my family, stop this from happening._

_Hopefully,_

_Percy Weasley._

He looked at the list, and turned white.

_Hermione Granger – Severus Snape_

_Ginevra Weasley – Draco Malfoy_

_Luna Lovegood – Theodore Nott Sr._

_Hannah Abbott – Gregory Goyle Sr._

The list continued, naming each and every witch and wizard that had ever supported him. It shocked him to see some prominent Order members placing an order for a particular witch or wizard, but what made him almost physically sick was the last entry.

_Harry Potter – Delores Umbridge_

Still reeling from the betrayals that have been revealed, after all that he had done for the Wizarding World, he made up his mind. "HERMIONE!" he roared.

She came running. "Harry! What's the problem?"

"Hermione, drop whatever it is you're doing and get the DA here, now. Percy just warned me of something, something so terrible I'm thinking of turning my back on the ungrateful hypocrites that we've been fighting for. And make absolutely sure that no Order members spot you."

Hermione looked like she was going to protest, until she saw the smouldering rage in his eyes and left.

He read over the proposed laws and their ramifications until multiple Apparition pops sounded, indicating that the DA had arrived. Hermione wasted no time in hurrying them into the room where Harry sat, then conjuring chairs and warding the room for privacy.

Harry looked at the faces before him, demanding to know what was so important, then took a deep breath, stood and motioned for them to sit. When they didn't take the hint, he said "Percy contacted me today. He told me about a new, utterly repulsive, set of laws that the Ministry is about to pass. You will want to sit down before I tell you any more."

Seeing his absolutely serious face, they sat down. "What's so terrible Harry?" asked Hermione.

"This new set of laws are known as the Muggle-born Marriage Laws, and they are supposedly aimed at preventing the inbreeding amongst the Pureblood Families that has reduced them to a shadow of what they were. Each Muggle-born witch or wizard will be paired with a Ministry approved Pureblood of the opposite sex, and bound to their partner, forever."

Most of the DA went white, though a few looked confused. Ron said "I don't see the problem. So the Ministry is going to pick my wife for me. What's so bad about it?"

"Ron, you don't get it. The Muggle-born will be bound to their Ministry approved spouse. To explain, Hermione has been bought by Snape. If these laws pass, they will bind her to him. **Everything **that she has, her body, her magic, her mind, her will, her **life**, becomes his. Whoever is bound by these laws becomes worse off then a House Elf. At least a House Elf still has some freewill, and can survive without a wizard to serve. If the binder dies, so does whoever he or she was bound to."

Harry took a moment to let this bombshell sink in, then he continued "To make things worse, the Ministry will have the power to overturn the Pureblood status of certain families. And they've set up the slave market already. Here's a list of who bought who."

He handed the list to Hermione, who duplicated it several times and gave out the copies so everyone could see. Soon, the girls were all in a great clump, hugging each other and crying (many exclaiming 'How could he?' or 'I thought he was a friend.'), while the guys were all stunned into immobility. Ron was especially hard hit, finding out that Malfoy had paid for his sister like she was a prostitute, or slave.

Harry let them release their emotions, figuring that it'd be better if they let it all out. Eventually, the storm of tears dried and the guys started recovering from their shock. Hermione and Ron turned to Harry and said "How can we help?"

Harry smiled "Whatever the Order has you doing, drop it. This is far more important. I want you all to research who has true control over each seat of the Wizengamot – especially the family seats. We need to know who really supports the proposals, who doesn't care, and who is an ally against them. We need a plan to deal with those of the Order who are intent on betraying us. And," his smile turned evil "we have to prepare to invade the Wizengamot. I am willing to do whatever it takes to stop this pile of dragon dung from ever becoming law, even if I have to kill everyone who supports it. Are you?"

Harry dismissed them to begin, and asked Hermione to stay. He said "Hermione, I need you to find out everything you can on magical blocks. I don't know how, or why, but I think that both me and Neville are not as powerful as we should be. I think we're going to need all the power we can get." Hermione nodded her understanding and disappeared into the library to begin her research.

The few weeks before the final approval of the so-called Marriage Laws went quickly, researching old family trees, training, and talking with the centaurs and goblins. Hermione discovered that Harry's suspicions were right, Neville and him had had their magic bound, and gave them a choice – destroying the bindings, dealing with a lot of pain and requiring a large amount of time to retrain to avoid overpowering their spells, or gradually eroding the bindings, essentially painless and keeping their control basically in line with their rapidly growing magic reserves, but taking far more time. They both opted for the painful option.

Finally the day arrived. Hermione had sent off notifications to the friendly Wizengamot members, just in case the Minister 'forgot' to tell them that the meeting was today, and the DA Apparated en mass to the hall outside the Wizengamot chambers. The guards were not happy, but allowed them to pass when Harry loudly asked if they intended to try and prevent them from claiming the Seats they were entitled to.

All conversations ceased as the students filed in, and some of the old wizards in attendance looked absolutely livid. Dumbledore, Malfoy Senior, and the Minister in particular. Dumbledore roared at them "By Merlin's beard! What the devil do you think you're doing here?!"

"We are here, Supreme Mugwump, to claim the Seats and Titles that we are entitled to, and to vote on the 'Muggle-born Marriage Laws'. Will you allow us to do so, or will we be talking to the Prophet reporters outside about the abuse of power here?"

Each member of the dedicated members of the DA had found at least one Seat that they were entitled to, and one by one, they stepped forward to claim their birthrights.

"I, Neville Longbottom, son of Frank and Alice Longbottom, descendant of Helga Hufflepuff, do claim the Seats of Longbottom and Hufflepuff."

"I, Hermione Granger, descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw, do claim the Seat of Ravenclaw."

"I, Susan Bones, niece and heir of Amelia Bones, do claim the Seat of Bones."

"I, Ronald Weasley, son of Arthur and Molly Weasley, do claim the Seat of Weasley."

"I, Luna Lovegood, daughter of Xenophilius and Serena Lovegood, descendant of Cassandra the Seer, do claim the Seats of Lovegood and The Seer."

The list went on, with wards ejecting various displaced wizards from the newly claimed Seats, and Dumbledore looked angrier, and angrier, until the last member of the DA stood.

"I, Harry James Potter-Black, son of James and Lily Potter, descendant of Godric Gryffindor and Merlin, heir of Sirius Orion Black, descendant of Salazar Slytherin, do claim the Seats of Potter, Black, Merlin, Gryffindor and Slytherin. As the House of Malfoy is a vassel House to the House of Black, I also claim the Seat of Malfoy. I also bear documents authorising me to act and vote on the behalf of the goblins and centaurs. And finally, I challenge Albus Dumbledore for the Seat of Power. Do you accept?"

"Challenge accepted." Dumbledore snarled. "How should we decide the challenge? A duel?"

"No. That would endanger too many others. How about two of the most powerful power detecting dummies the Ministry has? You cast whatever spell you wish at one, I cast at the other, and the Seat goes to whoever has a higher rating. Agreed?"

"Agreed, Lord Potter-Black. And when you lose I shall teach you a lesson in power."

A couple of Aurors were sent to retrieve the dummies, and their function was briefly explained to those who might not know. Upon being hit with a spell, the dummy would display a number representing the power of the spell – 1 being the lowest power possible to cast the spell, 500 being an advanced Hogwarts NEWT graduate, and 1000 being the highest rating recordable.

Dumbledore went first, firing off a Stunner at his target. After rocking back and forth a few times, it displayed an almost unheard of rating, 950. Dumbledore smirked, and strode back to his Seat, confident of victory.

Harry just looked at his target and started talking, almost conversationally to everyone in the chamber. He said "A funny thing I learnt about magical bindings. A witch or wizard so bound only has access to about 10 percent of their magical potential. I just found out a few weeks ago that I was bound, and I've been easily hitting 700 for at least a year. I wonder if this dummy could display the power I can put out now. Let's find out."

He pointed a finger at the target, and a Stunner exploded towards the sensor. The display blinked, reading 'Error', for a few seconds before the magical overload caused it to violently explode. The entire assembly was utterly silent in shock, except for the thump made as Dumbledore landed after being ejected from the Seat of Power.

Harry strode over to his new Seat, and turned to address the Wizengamot. "I don't know who proposed the slavery law disguised as a measure to 'save the Pureblood wizards', and frankly I don't care. All I will say is this, you are worse then Voldemort ever was. Voldemort, for all his evil, never made any secret of what he was going to do to any Muggle-borns that he didn't just kill outright. You, however, are supposed to be the Leaders of the Light. You're supposed to be standing for good, decency and freedom, and you propose this piece of dragon dung. You make me sick. And, should you try anything like this again, well, let's just say that there are worse fates then life imprisonment in Azkaban. Now, all who wish to vote to implement the 'Muggle-born Marriage Laws' raise your hand now."

Cowed by Harry's casual display of power, no-one did.

"All against?"

The voting was unanimous against the Marriage Laws.

Harry smiled, and said "I propose that each and everyone of you swear an oath on your magic that you will never vote for any law that will bind another into slavery against their will, and that you will make your successor swear the same oath."

Harry smiled as they all stood to make the oath, before swearing the same. 'Now,' he thought 'we can make some real changes, and make a real effort to stamp out the corruption here.'

A/N In case you were wondering why the hidden Death Eaters and the deposed wizards did nothing while the DA were shaking things up - it was happening too fast, there were too many united witches and wizards to stand against, and then Harry revealed some of his real power. Some of them probably needed to change their robes after the testing dummy exploded.


End file.
